As
had been threatened, North Korea's Kim Jong-Il reportedly conducted an
underground nuclear test yesterday, a move which promotes a global nuclear
arms race and nullifies non-proliferation agreements.

Take it personally.

How ironic that North Korea carried out its
nuclear test as an armada of US warships heads to Iran, ostensibly in
retaliation for Iran's alleged nuclear-development plan, which US
intelligence agencies estimate would take over a decade to implement, if
it exists at all. Different countries suffer different consequences for
proliferation.

If nothing else, North Korea's flamboyant
tyrant, Kim Jong-Il, appears once again to have outfoxed the world
community, and his nuclear test will play well domestically, with his
people facing another hungry, harsh winter. Kim can also rely on the usual
US response to his transgressions: harsh words, talk of UN sanctions, and
then complete disinterest as fighting in the Middle East takes precedence.

Kim Jong-Il knows full well that Bush's
record on North Korea has been characterized by bravado and indifference.
The administration's 2002 Nuclear Posture Review, for example,
aggressively warned North Korea and certain other countries about
potential US "nuclear strike capabilities" in the vaguely-worded "event of
surprising military developments." (Pyongyang's response to the Nuclear
Posture Review was predictable: "Now
that the nuclear lunatics are in office in the White House, we are
compelled to examine all agreements with the U.S.")

But for all the bluster, US punitive
measures against North Korea have been less than consistent. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly threatened Pyongyang over developing
its nuclear capabilities, yet failed to mention his own contribution:
Rumsfeld was on the board of ABB, a company that sold hundreds of millions
of dollars of equipment and services to North Korean nuclear plants. In
another intriguing coincidence, despite his administration's slamming
"axis of evil" nukes, in 2003
Bush requested $3.5 million for a consortium building nuclear reactors
in North Korea.

While the Bush administration lashes out
against North Korea's nuclear test and inevitably tries to spin it as
justification for increased war-on-terror funding, Pyongyang's reaction
will be interesting. Kim Myong-chol, the so-called "unofficial" spokesman
of Kim Jong-il, recently had an ominous article in the Asia Times entitled
"Kim's
message: War is coming to US soil." The propaganda-laden piece (which
referred to Kim Jong-il as "the greatest iron-willed, brilliant
commander") nonetheless provided clues into how Pyongyang will justify its
nuclear test:

* "Absent US hostility, nuclear
blackmailing, sanctions, threats of isolation and regime change, the Kim
administration would never have thought at all of acquiring nuclear
deterrence."

* "The sole reason for the development of
nuclear weapons is more than 50 years of direct exposure to naked nuclear
threats and sanctions from the US."

* "US hostility, threats and sanctions are
the very engines that have propelled the development of nuclear weapons."

Kim Myong-chol's article also noted that the
North Korean nuclear test signified, "a long, overdue farewell to the
nuclear non-proliferation regime, with the Bush administration standing in
the dock as prime defendant accused of sabotaging nuclear
non-proliferation. Had the Americans been steadfast in upholding the
nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty by reducing their nuclear weapons and
respecting the sovereignty and independence of the non-nuclear states,
North Korea would not have felt any need to defend itself with nuclear
weapons."

Loosely translated: the US devil made me do
it.

But the global implications of Pyongyang's
nuclear test are extremely dangerous. Kim Myong-chol's article warned that
North Korea has "all types of nuclear bombs and warheads, atomic, hydrogen
and neutron, and the means of delivery, short-range, medium-range and
long-range, putting the whole of the continental US within effective
range," and added, "a next war will be better called the American War or
the DPRK-US War because the main theater will be the continental US, with
major cities transformed into towering infernos."

So take North Korea's nuclear test
personally. It isn't just a danger "over there" but yet another indication
of how the Bush administration's misguided foreign policy is endangering
you right at home.

Action Ideas:

1. For online anti-nuke activism, head over
to GREENPEACE International's "Abolish
nuclear weapons" campaign. There you'll find up-to-date information
plus various ideas for anti-nuke activism. Visit
Nuclear Files ,
which offers a comprehensive history of nuclear weapons, extensive
resources for educators and a free eNewsletter on global security issues.
For regular updates on nuclear issues, sign up for the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation's Sunflower e-newsletter and join its "Turn
the Tide Campaign" action-alert network.

2. CTBT? ABM? NPT? If you're not sure what
to make of contemporary arms control agreements, help is available on the
net. The Federation of
American Scientists has an easy-to-use compilation of resources,
under the Strategic Security heading on its site. All kinds of related
activities are also available; you can see the projected impact a nuclear
detonation would have on certain cities, search a database of US and
global arms sales, and take action on promoting arms control agreements.

Another place to explore disarmament issues
is the Arms Control
Association, which offers fact sheets, interviews, and easily
accessible information organized by country and subject area.